Writer Jeff Loeb
Artist & Co-writer Carlos Pacheco
Co-Writer Rafael Marin
Inks Jesus Merino
Colors Liquid Graphics
Letters Rich@Comiccraft
& Albert Letters


Into The Breach

Synopsis-With the Return of the Baxter Building, the team seems to be back. Little do they know that the Gideon Foundation is planning a raid on the Negative Zone, home to two of the team's most powerful villains, Blastaar and Annihilus. With the Trapster at there side, they are confident that they can overcome anything that is thrown at them. Alerted to the breach in the dimension barrier, the team is ambushed and left strended by the
Gideon Foundation. To make matters worse, can the team survive the Negative Zone with Johnny still on Earth.

Best Moments-The strong persona of Sue makes a great comeback. As one of the members of Damage Control says, "Sue seems to have her usual handle on things." The Negapod's return, a device used to explore the Negative Zone back in issue 251, is another indatcation of the book's return to greatness. Also Valeria's vitual reality viewer makes a come back, the transport bands from the H.I.V.E. (see Issue 61), and the villainous Janus (last seen in issue 109). Stan Lee's Fantastic Four often made mention of Reed growning tired of his devices after a while, hence you would only see them once or twice (not counting the main devices such as the vechicles). It's great to see them again. The Negative Zone is shown as a place of beauty here, and not just a strange, alien dimension with an anti-matter Earth in the middle of it. 

    Did I say this before, well let me say it again. This is a great point to jump on. The book is truly living up to it's name, the world's greatest comic.

Weak Points- Still I question the sudden envolvment of Noah Baxter, the lack of an explantion of the sudden change of the Thing, and the lack of lab time for Reed. These are all minor issues and really don't effect the book unless your really nit-pick the book like I do.

       I sense a much needed slow down in the book. Much needed because unlike the ever changing mutant titles, the Fantastic Four has always stood for stability in a ever changing Marvel (not counting the Defalco years). While this sudden shift in story telling is welcome, one feels as if he is caught in a rushing river, unable to notice the things as they rush past. Again, this is a very minor issue with the book, yet a vital one if the book is to remain true to tradition.

Over all rating- 3 1/2 out of 4 flares. Great book, worth reading, but still it's going a bit too fast. Although I very happy in the direction that it's taking.